Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Brokeback Rectory

Yes, in one sense he is pastor of every parish. But, does he have one parish that is uniquely his own? Yes, he does...it is called the Cathedral. That is the bishop's own parish.

Let's visit Milwaukee...Archbishop Timothy Dolan is pastor of the wreckovated Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. What is the Archbishop's parish doing in the way of adult ed this Lent? Who would have guessed "Supporting Gay Marriage"?

On Saturday, April 8, 2006, the Archbishop's own parish will be hosting a Call to Action meeting which offers dissent from the Church's teaching on both ordination and marriage. Congratulations your Excellency, a two for one special...

But, let us give credit where credit is due. Not only is Call to Action seeking to embarrass the Archbishop in his own parish church, but now the Archbishop's parish has also invited Action Wisconsin. This latter group are the organized supporters of gay marriage in Wisconsin. The first speaker will tell us that homosexuals should be ordained priests.

Here is the scorcard: Two anti-Catholic, dissenting groups; two heterodox speakers; and one complacent archbishop. Have I missed anything?

Well, there is the ringer who, if filled with any integrity, will fall on his sword and resign from the Archbishop's parish church. Cathedral Rector, Fr. Carl Last, member of the rebel union, must be the mover and shaker here.

Two questions present themselves: What will the Archbishop do about this, relative to both the event, and about the rector, Fr. Last? Second, and this is the mantra of this blog, how in the world does any supposedly attentive, supposedly orthodox, archbishop let this happen? But, ambivalence is becoming the norm here in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Message to Archbishop Dolan: Please, start paying attention, it is becoming enbarrassing to us all!

Mike

P.S. This message came in the other day. I think it is worth supporting:

Dear Fellow Blogger,

My name is Thomas Keeley and I am with the Wisconsin Conservative Digest as well as a college student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

I was just writing to see if there was any way that you could make a post regarding the Future Wisconsin Conference that will be held this Saturday (March 11) at Bluemound Gardens in Wauwatosa?

It looks like this is going to be much larger than last year and we would like to see that growth continue. As your blog content and traffic show, your blog could be a great resource in helping us get even more people to this event.

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Thank you again for all your posts and your dedication to keeping the public informed.

Many observers are saying that it would be no great surprise if Dolan were to end up one day in New York, where Cardinal Edward Egan will be 74 on April 2, and hence within a year of retirement age. Dolan has the sort of big, exuberant personality it takes to play on the world's largest media stage; some believe he could be another Cardinal John O'Connor in terms of both profile and impact.

Time, as always, will tell.

On the one hand, things have been so obvious, I cannot even concede to myself an "I told you so." On the other hand, Allen happenstantially hit upon a great test of His Excellecy's leadership skills: St. Francis Seminary. On this subject, Allen wrote:

"There's also a political dimension to the situation, since under Weakland St. Francis mixed seminarians, candidates for the diaconate, and aspiring lay ministers in the same academic program. (The seminary is actually called a "center for ministerial formation"). It's an approach that has never gone down well with some Catholics worried about fuzziness on priestly identity. If a restructuring plan separates the seminarians from lay students, some will therefore see it as part of a "restorationist" agenda."

With three acedemic years already under his leadership, and another year of admissions, course planning, sensitivity-training, etc., already in the offing...What exactly has His Excellency accomplished? Simple, unnuanced answer: Nothing!

Rhetorically I have to ask: If about two dozen students, six or so entrenched, not-so-post-hippie faculty, and the mere aura of a controversy, have kept the Archbishop from do anything for three years in what John Allen calls "what amounts to a mid-sized ecclesiastical market" then how in the world could he really accomplish anything in the behemoth that is the Archdiocese of New York?

Yes, Dolan is gregarious. He is a great back-slapper. But what has that really amounted to? Are even the supposedly orthodox in the Church slipping into a style over substance mode?

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Hearsay, Daresay, Say nothing...

I was not able to be there, but I heard that the latest of Archbishop Dolan's Pallium Lecture Series, this time with "veteran reporter" John Allen. You know the guy, of National Catholic Recalcitrant fame. After a review of two of Mr. Allen's books, one about then Joseph Ratzinger, and a new one about, Pope Benedict, I can see that he has progressed well in fairness and accuracy.

Rumor has it that the highlight of last Monday's lecture was a question from a man in the audience who wanted to know how it was that the progressivist-beloved Cardinal Martini, who was rumored to have actually won the election's first ballot, could have had the election stolen by B-16. (Unfortunately for the conspiritorialists among you, all of the ballots were burned, so there can be no studies of "hanging chad.")

OK, so here is the best part...after a little research (really just a follow up question), it turns out that the not-so-well read-Martini supporter is actually a priest of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. None other than, no surprises here, Fr. Joe Juknialis. Juknialis is a member of the local priests union, director of the college seminary, a professor at St. Francis Seminary, and columnist in the local Catholic rag, the Catholic Herald.

Simply put he is another holdover from the previous regime who is still on the job because the present His Excellency is unwilling to take any real action.

Is it really too much to ask that the religious dissenters of our day at least be better read than some Al Gore supporters from the West Palm Beach trailer parks? Barring that, is it such a fanciful dream that the dunderheads learn when to keep their mouths shut? It is better to remain silent, and be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and thus to prove it.

So it goes, and there is no end in sight.

But, I actually am looking forward to the remaining two Pallium Lectures.

Mike

P.S. I think I know the answer, but the person to whom I was speaking about the Juknialis incident asked who the priest that organized the lectures is. It seems that the Archbishop never introduced (or thanked) him even after made the announcements. Who was it?